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Chanteur
Country US né le 28 Octobre 1934 à Two Harbor (Minnesota), Johnny Western est d'abord Disc-Jockey avant de se produire dans les rodéos en compagnie des
"Sons Of The Pioneers" au début des années cinquante. Il a enregistré pour la Columbia Records.
A lover of
the Old West and its mythos from childhood, Johnny Western was one of the finest
and most impassioned exponents of cowboy songs; a successor to both
Gene Autry and
Marty Robbins whose career paved the
way for the work of Michael Martin Murphey,
Ian Tyson, and the
Riders In the Sky, all of whom
owed him a debt for carrying cowboy music into and beyond the 1960s. He was born
in Twin Harbors, MN, on October 28, 1934, and raised at various Civilian
Conservation Corps camps (where his father was an officer and instructor) and
Indian reservations along the Canadian border. The turning point in his life
came on his fifth birthday, when his parents took him to see a 1936 Western
called Guns and Guitars starring Gene Autry;
Johnny knew then and there that he wanted to be exactly like the man on the
horse, strumming a guitar and singing a song.
For his 12th birthday, Western was given a guitar; hardly a year had gone by
when he was invited to turn professional. He'd been recorded at the local 4-H
Club singing Gene Autry's "Riding Down the
Canyon" and other songs, which resulted in an invitation to join a collegiate
singing trio. He mostly played rhythm guitar, but also got to sing, and when the
group recorded an audition tape for KDHL in Faribault, MN, Johnny was asked to
sing one solo number. He chose "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky," and ended up getting
a weekly radio spot, which then became three days a week, and finally six days
each week. In addition to singing, he acted as a DJ and host, introducing live
and recorded country & Western music. He also earned a mention in Billboard
magazine as the youngest DJ and singer on American radio. By the age of 16, he
was playing on bills with his one-time idols the Sons of the Pioneers.
Soon after graduation, he made the jump from radio to television, becoming a
singing cowboy on KMMT-TV, and landed a recording contract with a small
Minnesota-based record label called JOCO. He and his fellow guitarist John
Fields cut a handful of singles, including "The Violet & the Rose" and "Let Old
Mother Nature Have Her Way," which received good airplay locally and in Iowa,
Wisconsin, and the Dakotas. Johnny Western's television show, which allowed him
to sing to his young audience before introducing the day's Western movie, lasted
for two years. During this period, he got to play concerts with Western stars
such as Rex Allen and
Tex Ritter, and had them as guests on
his show. In 1954, however, he gave up the program, heading for Hollywood to
pursue his real goal to be a movie cowboy.
This was the hardest jump of all, because they weren't making many Westerns in
Hollywood anymore, or looking for singing cowboys. It was years before he got to
work in front of a movie camera; in the meantime, he earned a place in
Gene Autry's band, replacing
Johnny Bond as a guitarist and singer.
After Autry retired from performing,
Western did a pilot for a series called Pony Express which, in turn, led to
appearances in more than 30 other television shows (including Gunsmoke) and
several feature films, including The Dalton Girls, Fort Bowie, and Gunfight at
Dodge City. In 1957, a new series called Have Gun, Will Travel went into
production; Western was cast in a small role in one episode, and while working
on the show he composed a song about the series' hero, Paladin. "The Ballad of
Paladin" was adopted as the show's closing theme, and Johnny Western was signed
to the CBS network's record division, Columbia Records.
He was soon either acting in or singing on the music tracks of several series,
including Pony Express, Boots and Saddles, Tales of Wells Fargo, and Bat
Masterson, and his performing and singing careers were suddenly revived. Under
Columbia Records producer Don Law (who also produced
Johnny Cash), he recorded dozens of sides,
including the singles "Only the Lonely" (1959), "Della's Gone" (1960), "Darling
Corey" (1961), "Gunfighter" (1962), and "Kathy Come Home," along with an album,
Have Gun, Will Travel (1962). He was also asked by
Johnny Cash to join his band as a singer/guitarist.
He remained a member of Cash's band for six years, playing rhythm guitar on
recordings such as "Johnny Yuma, The Rebel," "The Little Drummer Boy," and
"Lorena," among many others. During his years at Columbia, Western was also
befriended by Marty Robbins, who later
participated in Western's recordings of "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" and the
redone "Ballad of Paladin." When he wasn't on tour with
Cash, Western was playing shows on his own
and working with ex-members of Ernest Tubb's
and Porter Wagoner's bands.
At the end of 1963, he left Columbia Records and moved to Philips, where he had
a very brief, unsuccessful stay. Johnny Western was a popular draw in Las Vegas,
however, and also began making the rounds of Western shows. He continued to
record for various labels, including Hep ("The Violet & The Rose," 1967), and he
made the acquaintance of Waylon Jennings,
then a songwriter and aspiring country star. He recorded "The Streets of Dodge
City" for the 1970 film Dodge City, Kansas, and also wrote the music for a
documentary film, Rodeo -- A Matter of Style, released in 1976 as part of the
country's Bicentennial celebration. Western also record numerous sides for
Johnny Cash's House of Cash label, which
became the basis for a retrospective album. During most of this period, he
played 200 shows a year. In 1986, he resumed his radio career with a series in
Wichita, KS. In 1993, Western began work on a new album, a sort of cowboy
super-session, with the Sons of the Pioneers,
Rex Allen,
Rex Allen, Jr.,
Red Steagall, and
Michael Martin Murphey, entitled Johnny
Western and the Sons of the Pioneers and
Friends. Health problems intervened, however, when Western was incapacitated by
a bypass operation, and the album went unreleased.
https://johnnywesterntouring.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Western
Talents : Vocals, Guitar, Songwriter, Actor
Style musical : Contemporary Country, Traditional Country
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THE BALLAD OF PALADIN
(1958)
HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL
(1962)
Gunfighter
(1962)
COWPOKE
(1962)
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Years in activity :
| 1910 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 2000 | 10 | 20 |
DISCOGRAPHY
78 t. & Singles
| 1952 | 78 t. JOCO 301 (US) | . | Johnny Western (The Rainbow Rider) with The Guitars of Johnny Fields - Give Me More, More, More / A Violet And A Rose |
| 1952 | SP JOCO 45-301 (US) | . | Johnny Western (The Rainbow Rider) with The Guitars of Johnny Fields - Give Me More, More, More / A Violet And A Rose |
| 1952 | 78 t. JOCO 302 (US) | . |
Johnny Western (The Rainbow Rider) with The Guitars of Johnny Fields - Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way / Little Buffalo Bill |
| 1952 | SP JOCO 45-302 (US) | . | Johnny Western (The Rainbow Rider) with The Guitars of Johnny Fields - Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way / Little Buffalo Bill |
| 1952 | 78 t. JOCO 303 (US) | . |
Johnny Western (The Rainbow Rider) with The Guitars of Johnny Fields - Fa-Hoolin' Around / Ten Easy Lessons |
| 1952 | SP JOCO 45-303 (US) | . | Johnny Western (The Rainbow Rider) with The Guitars of Johnny Fields - Fa-Hoolin' Around / Ten Easy Lessons |
| 1952 | 78 t. JOCO 304 (US) | . | Johnny Western (The Rainbow Rider) with The Guitars of Johnny Fields - Love Me Love Me / Honey, How Sweet Can You Be |
| 1952 | SP JOCO 45-304 (US) | . | Johnny Western (The Rainbow Rider) with The Guitars of Johnny Fields - Love Me Love Me / Honey, How Sweet Can You Be |
| 08/1958 | SP COLUMBIA 4-41260 (US) | . |
The Ballad Of Paladin
 / The Guns
Of Rio Huerto (with Richard BOONE) |
| 10/1959 | SP COLUMBIA 4-41500 (US) | . | Ten Years / Only The Lonely |
| 04/1960 | SP COLUMBIA 4-41652 (US) | . | Delia's Gone / Don't Cry, Little Girl |
| 05/1960 | SP COLUMBIA LL 233 (JAP) |
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The Ballad Of Paladin
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| 12/1960 | SP COLUMBIA 4-41921 (US) | . | Darlin' Corey / Willowgreen |
| 09/1961 | SP COLUMBIA 4-42161 (US) | . | The Ballad Of Paladin [1960 version] / The Echo Of Your Voice |
| 08/1962 | SP COLUMBIA 4-42525 (US) | . |
Gunfighter
/
Cowpoke
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| 07/1963 | SP COLUMBIA 4-42818 (US) | . | Just For The Record / Kathy Come Home |
| 10/1964 | SP PHILIPS 40231 (US) | . | Light The Fuse / Tender Years |
| 04/1967 | SP HEP 2938 (US) | . | Ruby (Don't Take Your Love To Town) / The Violet And The Rose |
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Albums
| 05/1962 | LP 12" COLUMBIA CL-1788 (mono) / CS-8588 (stereo) (US) |
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HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL - Ballad Of Paladin / Searchers / Cowpoke / Rollin' Dust / Hannah Lee (High Are The Gallows) / Streets Of Laredo / Long Tall Shadow / Lillies Grow High / Cottonwood Tree / Nineteen Men / Lonely Man / Last Round-Up | |||
| 11/1981 | LP 12" BEAR FAMILY / CBS BFX 15081 / LSP 15184 (GER) |
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THE GUNFIGHTER - The Ballad Of Paladin / The Guns Of Rio Muerto / The Lonely Man / Rollin' Dust / Hannah Lee / The Long Tall Shadow / Nineteen Men / The Searchers / The Gunfighter / Geronimo / The Echo Of Your Voice / Ten Years / Uh Huh ! / Stranger, Drive Away / All By My Lonesome / Time Has Run Out On Me | |||
| 1982 | LP 12" JRC 007 (US) |
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ARIZONA MORNING - Last Time I Saw Phoenix / Whoever Finds This, I Love You / Hustler / Singin' Man / Forty Shades Of Green / Mr. Rodeo Cowboy / You Wouldn't Know Love / I'll Try Hard To Forget You If I Can / Used To / Arizona Morning | |||
| 1984 | LP 12" AMERICANA AR-0001 (US) |
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JOHNNY WESTERN SINGS 20 GREAT CLASSICS AND LEGENDS - Ghost Riders In The Sky / Gunfight At O.K. Corral / Gunfighter / Don't Take Your Guns To Town / Ringo / Hangin' Tree / Cross The Brazos At Waco / Medley: Johnny Yuma The Rebel - Bonanza - Ballad Of Paladin / Rawhide / Searchers / High Noon / Song Of The Bandit / Hannah Lee / Lillies Grow High / Ballad Of Boot Hill / Medley: Cheyenne - Wyatt Earp - Bat Masterson | |||
| 1989 | CD BEAR FAMILY BCD 15429 (GER) |
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GUNFIGHT AT O.K. CORRAL - (Ghost) Riders In The Sky / Gunfight At O.K. Corral / The Gunfighter / Don't Take Your Guns To Town / Ringo / The Hangin' Tree / Cross The Brazos At Waco / The Rebel - Johnny Yuma - Bonanza - Ballad Of Paladin / Rawhide / The Searchers / High Noon / Song Of The Bandit / Hannah Lee (High Are The Gallows) / The Lillies Grow High / The Ballad Of Boot Hill / Cheyenne - Wyatt Earp - Bat Masterson | |||
| 1991 | 3 CD BEAR FAMILY BCD 15552 (GER) |
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HEROES AND COWBOYS :
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© Rocky Productions 26/03/2020
